


Fireproof

by Onlymystory



Category: 9-1-1 (TV)
Genre: Buck has more friends than he knows, Buckley-Diaz family, Found Family, Hurt/Comfort, I also live for Lena Bosko, Injured Evan "Buck" Buckley, M/M, No lawsuit cuz nah, Post-Tsunami (9-1-1), Protective Eddie Diaz, Sharing a Bed, Sort Of, but no angst, i live to torture Buck, there's a lot of emotional torture here
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-13
Updated: 2020-05-13
Packaged: 2021-03-03 02:54:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,310
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24157702
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Onlymystory/pseuds/Onlymystory
Summary: Eddie swings into the back of the truck. Lena takes off like nobody’s business, driving faster than any of them are frankly comfortable, even as an emergency response team. Sirens blaring, Eddie follows his crew out of the truck to find they’re parked on the land side of a pier.A truck from the 136 is already there, with two crew members on the edge of the pier, looking out over the water. Two others are in the water, pulling someone with them, who seems to be unconscious. Eddie shares a bewildered look with his crew, but runs after Lena. One of the 136 guys passes Bosko a phone, saying “It’s all cued up, Lena. This was a bad one. Usually he’s still fighting, but he must have been out there a while.”Lena nods as the two lean in to help pull out the drowning victim.Eddie, confused and annoyed as the rest of his team, starts to demand an explanation at the same time Chimney does, when Bobby stops them, his face transformed into utter devastation. “Buck?” he asks quietly.Eddie stops, Hen and Chimney beside him, because he sees now what his captain saw.The man the 136 is pulling from the water is Buck.
Relationships: Evan "Buck" Buckley/Eddie Diaz
Comments: 27
Kudos: 676





	Fireproof

**Author's Note:**

> Title from One Direction because I do what I want and what I want is for One Direction to come back. As my 0T5, not 4, because I fucking love Zayn and you can't make me regret my life choices.
> 
> This story heavily features Lena Bosko as the friend that Buck and Eddie should have because I love her and I feel like the show fucked up with Lena, so I am here to fix that.

Eddie smiles as he shaves before his shift. It’s his last shift before a four day weekend and while he usually shortens those to three days and picks up an overtime shift, Buck begged him to share in the multitude of adventures he and Christopher had planned. Eddie’s already a sucker for his son’s wishes; it’s been made quickly apparent to him that he’ll do anything Buck wants too.

Besides, his weekend means that Buck stays over. It’s starting to feel like it’s only home when Buck is there. Yesterday he’d only picked up 8 hours of overtime, making it home in time to fix dinner and relax while Buck helped Christopher with his science homework.

It’s funny, thinks Eddie. He never really expected to get here. Not that he’s overwhelmingly sure where here is. Neither he nor Buck have really broached the subject of what they are, they’ve just kind of fallen into this family they’ve built.

It started when Buck had been sitting next to him on the couch as they watched Shrek with Christopher on one of the first weekends that Eddie had off since the tsunami. Well, weekend to a firefighter, which in that case, was a Tues-Thursday. He, like many first responders, had been picking up significant overtime. 

Chris was asleep in his “throne” as they’d dubbed it, a massive pillow chair/fort concoction that he and Buck had made while Eddie ordered dinner.

Buck had nodded off, his head hitting Eddie’s shoulder, before he shook himself back awake. “Sorry, Eds. I should probably head home,” he’d said. 

“Why don’t you just stay?” Eddie had offered. “It’ll be easier for Chris if he has a nightmare.”

“I don’t want to be an inconvenience,” was Buck’s protest.

Eddie had been infuriated by the very idea. “You are never an inconvenience, Evan Buckley. Stay.”

So Buck had. Eddie’d opened up his arms and let Buck snuggle into his shoulder until he fell asleep. Eventually he’d moved to get pillows and blankets for Buck, then put his kid to bed, who’d woken up just long enough to see Buck and whisper good night. 

It was the first night in weeks that Christopher hadn’t woken up with a nightmare about trying to find Buck.

Actually, thinks Eddie, pulling a shirt over his head as he heads into the kitchen (and no, he doesn’t miss the once-over that Buck gives his shirtless torso), it started long before that night. 

It started when Eddie hesitantly introduced Buck to his kid, nervous about what it might change. Everyone in his life didn’t think he was cut out to be a dad, he’d heard it many times over. And what short camaraderie he and Buck had developed was pretty sure to fade away once Buck realized he hadn’t found a new drinking buddy.

But Eddie didn’t think he’d ever been more wrong about a person. Buck never once expected or even acted like there was any reason for Eddie or Christopher to accommodate him. He’d swooped in and found Eddie help, found him a way to navigate the red tape, a way to feel like he could settle here and find a home. Even through the mess that was Shannon, Buck had been there, with no expectations, just Eddie’s rock.

So yeah, maybe Los Angeles only started to feel like home when he found Buck. He’s not trading that for anything.

He sips his coffee while Christopher and Buck map out their plans for tomorrow--Christopher is staying at Pepa’s tonight--and muses about how the last few months since the tsunami have changed them even more. 

Buck stays with them whenever Eddie has the night off now, even just the days between shifts. It had been kind of accidental, with Eddie going with Buck to his place and noting that he should probably bring a few extra changes of clothes to the house, so he could just stay through the upcoming weekend.

Buck had given him a look and Eddie’d just shrugged. He wanted Buck there. Chris wanted Buck there. And Buck wanted to be there. Wasn’t much of a mystery.

Now it’s second nature to have Buck at home. Close to him on the couch, brushing against each other while Buck cooks and Eddie pretends to learn. 

Even now, Eddie reaches over and switches Buck’s coffee for a glass of orange juice. If no one pays attention, Buck tends to finish off an entire pot by himself and while Eddie’s never one to complain about the view, he has noticed that Buck’s thinned out since the tsunami. He needs better nutrients.

He’ll make sure they go to the grocery store tomorrow after his shift. It’ll be a more interesting endeavor--this weekend includes an actual weekend, Saturday-Tuesday off, giving him time as a family and with just Buck--because shopping with Buck and Christopher is kind of crazy to say the least.

But they can get some of those protein bars that Buck likes and Eddie will throw in tuna snack packs and other protein and carb heavy snacks. 

Maybe they can take a minute to talk about them as well. About what this is that they’ve built. About where they go next.

Eddie kind of wants to check in on how Buck’s doing too. He’s still a couple months out from getting a clean bill of health and being allowed to come back to the 118, which Eddie knows has Buck climbing the walls on the inside, even if he doesn’t show it all that often. Plus Buck doesn’t really talk about the tsunami or what happened, focusing on Christopher’s healing instead.

Eddie refocuses on Christopher, reaching to steal bacon off of Buck’s plate, and shakes off his thoughts and worries. There’s enough time for that later. Right now, the best people in his life want his attention.

* * *

“What do you want to play, little man?” asks Buck. He’s sipping on what seems to be a never empty cup of coffee and Eddie frowns a little as he thinks about how much caffeine Buck has probably already had. He doesn’t need to have any heart issues while recovering from everything else that’s happened in the last few months. 

“Hide and seek!” shouts Christopher and Eddie’s focus is pulled back to his son. Hide and seek is one of Christopher’s favorite games.

“I don’t know if hide and seek in a firehouse is the best idea, buddy,” starts Eddie. They’d somehow ended hanging out here for a late breakfast after their shift. Buck had come by with Christopher, explaining that they both just wanted to see everyone. When he offered to cook breakfast for them, the others all agreed to stay. It wasn’t like the crew coming in couldn’t appreciate a second breakfast as they arrived and the days had seemed quiet lately, nothing quite having the stress of the tsunami and the calls of the weeks following. It always helps to have something to do after a last shift before a weekend, so they stay up and can readjust their internal clocks. They even convinced Athena and Maddie to join them.

Buck gives Bobby a pleading look and as they all tend to do when it’s Buck asking for something these days, their Captain gives in without a fight. He limits the areas they can hide in, making sure Christopher can search without ever going near the trucks in the bay, and passes on a heads-up to the crew on duty, so they know to pay attention when a call comes in. 

Eddie’s not too worried, Christopher is a good kid and knows better than to go where he’s been told not to. Eddie does however warn the others that they have to be quiet wherever they hide, because Christopher likes to feel successful about finding everyone, rather than some kids who prefer the jumping out and chasing each other around part of the game rather than the seeking. 

It is fun. Christopher takes his first turn. Then Hen goes and then Bobby. Bobby has to give up on finding Athena and Buck on his turn. Athena reveals herself but Buck stays hidden wherever he is, not giving up what is apparently an excellent hiding spot. 

Eddie laughs when Buck doesn’t answer everyone’s call of “Olly olly oxen free!”

“If he’s got this good of a hiding spot, you know he’s not going to answer,” says Eddie. “Just keep playing, we’ll see who finds him first.”

No one expects Chimney or Maddie to find Buck, but when Athena can’t, the level of frustration in the air grows slightly. It’s when Christopher goes again and starts getting upset that he can’t find Buck, that their frustration takes more of a voice. Plus it’s been over an hour, everyone’s intent was to call it a day after Christopher finished his last turn.

“Buck!” shouts Eddie. “Fun’s over, come on out!”

“Seriously, Evan, this isn’t funny anymore,” yells Maddie. 

Christopher is quickly losing his cheerful demeanor at the frustration of not finding his second favorite person in the world, and the 118 are even more quickly losing their patience with the kid. How can Buck possibly think this is funny? This isn’t the Buck he knows at all.

“Buck!” yells Christopher again. 

Eddie’s fuming, while Chimney bitches about how irresponsible Buck is, when Lena Bosko walks into the firehouse. “Um, everything okay here?” she asks, looking around at the visibly pissed off faces. 

“It’s fine,” says Eddie curtly. 

Bobby gives him a look that clearly says behave and steps forward. “Did you need something Lena?”

“Yeah,” says Lena, passing over a folder. “Just some final paperwork all the captains need to fill out about the tsunami and how we can be better prepared in the future. Captain Cooper asked me to deliver to the firehouses that were and would continue to be the first response. This was my last stop.”

“Thank you.”

“No problem. Seriously though, is everything okay?”

“I can’t find Buck,” answers Christopher, appearing from behind Eddie, tears in his eyes. 

“Buck’s here?” questions Lena, even as she peers at Christopher, as though trying to place him. 

Bobby answers while Eddie bends down to try and soothe Christopher, furious that Buck continues to play this stupid game or prank or whatever he thinks it is. He honestly can’t believe Buck is letting Christopher get this upset. “Buck is Evan Buckley, a former firefighter here. And Christopher has been working very hard to find his hiding spot.” Bobby raises his voice. “And if he doesn’t stop this nonsense, he might not be coming back once he’s fully healed!”

Lena gasps. “You’re Christopher?!” Her eyes snap from Christopher to Eddie and back again. “Wait, you’re Buck’s Eddie? Christopher. You played hide and seek? So he couldn’t find you? Shit, shit, shit.”

Eddie glares at her for the swearing, but he doesn’t even get a word out before Lena is racing for the paramedic truck. “Let’s go, we gotta move!”

“The hell?” says Hen. “What is with this woman?”

“Eddie, now!” shouts Lena. She’s on the phone, apparently with Captain Cooper as she swings into the truck and turns the keys in the ignition. “Cap! We’ve got a daytime Buckley and my phone’s almost dead. I need someone to meet me at the pier with the videos loaded up.” She tosses her phone into the seat and yells out the window. “We don’t have time for this, let’s move!”

Bobby shrugs. “I don’t know what’s going on but Lena seems to know something we don’t. On the truck.”

Eddie hesitates and Athena steps in. “I’m not on duty today, neither is Maddie. We’ll keep an eye on Christopher until you finish whatever this is.”

“And Buck will be ready with an apology,” adds Maddie, a stern look on her face. 

Eddie nods, says a quick goodbye to Christopher, and swings into the back of the truck, pulling the door shut behind them. Lena takes off like nobody’s business, driving faster than any of them are frankly comfortable, even as an emergency response team. Sirens blaring, Eddie follows his crew out of the truck to find they’re parked on the land side of a pier. The street is unfamiliar behind them, though it’s clear it saw some major damage during the tsunami. 

A truck from the 136 is already there, with two crew members on the edge of the pier, looking out over the water. Two others are in the water, pulling someone with them, who seems to be unconscious. Eddie shares a bewildered look with his crew, but runs after Bosko. One of the 136 guys passes Bosko a phone, saying “It’s all cued up, Lena. This was a bad one. Usually he’s still fighting, but he must have been out there a while.”

“And no calls?”

He shrugs. “Lots of noise during the day, plus these streets are abandoned. And let’s be real, we only found him most nights because we got the call and knew where to look. No one expects him to be out here in the daylight.”

Lena nods as the two lean in to help pull out the drowning victim. 

Eddie, confused and annoyed as the rest of his team, starts to demand an explanation at the same time Chimney does, when Bobby stops them, his face transformed into utter devastation. “Buck?” he asks quietly. 

Eddie stops, Hen and Chimney beside him, because he sees now what his captain saw. The man the 136 is pulling from the water is Buck. His body is still. Eddie shakes as the paramedics from the 136 lean over Buck, working to resuscitate him. He’s supposed to be able to move, to be able to help a victim in this moment, but he and the rest of his team stay frozen in place. Because this isn’t just any victim. This is Buck and it’d be one thing to get a call and find one of their own in trouble, but not two hours ago Buck was looking for a hiding spot and playing games with the rest of them at the firehouse. And now...now Lena Bosko and Captain Cooper of the 136 are pulling the man he...they’re pulling his best friend from the water and trying to bring him back to life. 

Hen moves to his open side, silent support as they move towards Buck, because she knows how he feels, knows how much Buck means to him. Eddie’s not sure the others fully understand, but Hen’s always been a bit more perceptive. That, and if Hen doesn’t know something, you can bet Athena does. 

He’s terrified. Scared shitless that they won’t be able to bring him back. 

And then Buck gasps. Gags on water that spills from his lips. 

Buck’s alive.

Eddie’s sigh of relief lasts all of two seconds.

Because Buck goes from not breathing, to screaming and fighting the paramedics on either side of him. “Christopher! Christopher!” His eyes are glazed, not really seeing any of them in his fugue state, and he won’t stop screaming for Eddie’s son. “I have to find him!” screams Buck, his voice hoarse and desperate. “I can’t lose him, I can’t lose Eddie. If anything happens to Christopher he’ll never speak to me again. I can’t, I can’t.” He breaks off, tears streaming and starts screaming again. “Christopher!”

Eddie’s dropping to his knees, reaching for Buck, when the sound of Christopher’s voice breaks through the screen. “Hi Buck.” There’s a choppy pause. “You’re my best friend,” says Christopher, laughing. “Hi Buck,” he repeats. 

Eddie looks to see Lena holding a phone with Christopher’s face on it, playing what appears to be a collection of videos that Eddie vaguely recognizes from when Christopher insists on sending Buck videos or from what he thinks are facetime conversations. 

As Buck listens, he stops struggling to get back to the water, and relaxes. 

But a moment later, Buck passes out, slumping back onto the dock. “Alright everyone,” snaps Lena. “We need to get him to the hospital. We’ll explain more once we’re there.”

Eddie feels lost, but like the rest of his team, they stay out of the way while the other paramedics work. And then they make their way to the hospital, desperate for answers to what the hell is going on with Buck.

* * *

Eddie paces back and forth through the hospital corridors, waiting for answers. As Eddie paces, a woman who looks about his age comes running up with another man, hurrying to the charge nurse’s desk. 

“We’re looking for Buck,” she says. “Evan Buckley? Is he okay? What happened?”

Eddie turns to Bobby, ready to ask if he knows who these people are, when a college-age boy comes through the doors asking the same question. He’s followed by four others, all of whom want to know about Buck. Eddie has no idea who any of them are or how they know Buck.

“He was under longer than usual,” says Lena, pushing herself up from where she’s been sitting against the wall. She moves towards the group that’s gathered, speaking in reassuring tones. “We have no reason not to believe that he’ll be okay, but he was having some breathing issues at the pier, so we brought him in. The doctors are working, putting him through some tests.”

“Who are all of you?” asks Bobby. He, like Eddie, keeps looking back and forth between the group and Lena.

“These are more of the people who have been looking out for Buck,” says Bosko.

“What?” Eddie’s confused even more now.

“He saved us,” answers the first woman, introducing herself as Angie. “That day with the tsunami. He just kept going back in the water, over and over again, pulling people out. He saved 37 of us by the time the water receded.”

“Jesus,” breathes Bobby.

Eddie feels the same. They knew Buck had helped several people, but their count--and the way Buck talked about it--was that it was maybe 10 people in total. But 37? It makes Eddie rethink Buck’s condition that day. How many times had he gone back in the water? How many times had he nearly drowned so that someone else didn’t have to?

“Sara had been spending some time by the pier near her house,” explains Angie, gesturing at another woman. “It’s not the main pier, not the one near the fair and such, but it was on the street that all of us were trapped on for the longest part of the day.”

“I have trouble sleeping,” continues Sara. “It helped to walk near the ocean. Something about being able to see it back to normal made it easier for me to recognize that the tsunami was a freak occurrence, not something I needed to stay afraid of. Well, that and therapy,” she amends.

“It did the same for me,” adds the kid. “I’m Billy, by the way. Something about facing your fears. Anyway, I was out there one night the same time as Sara and we were both caught off guard by Buck running past us like a man possessed. He kept screaming for Christopher and was in the water before we could blink.”

“I called 9-1-1,” says Sara. “I was too scared to jump in after him. I didn’t know what to do.”

“And we answered,” finishes Lena. 

The rest of the story gets put together as a group effort. Buck apparently ends up out there a lot, with the 136 getting the calls as the nearest firehouse. They think that, like the others who he’d saved on that street, something about the recognizable landmarks draws each of them back there, searching for a way to come to terms with the horrors of the day. 

Eventually, the people he saved talked and worked out a system, each covering shifts to keep an eye out for him. They have the personal numbers of Lena, Capt Cooper, and a couple of other members of the 136 (the ones Buck personally saved) so they can call without going through dispatch. 

The hardest part was apparently calming him down out of the fugue state. Buck usually fought them until sedated, then one day Buck’s phone rang and Christopher was on the other end. Eddie’s not sure he can place the day; any night that Christopher’s needed to talk to Buck, his focus has been on his son, not Buck. Still, they explain that Christopher’s voice broke through Buck’s fear. So they used his phone to put together a collection of clips. 

Every one of them has the clips on their phones. 

“He never ends up out there during the day though,” says an older man named Clint. “What happened?”

“He played hide and seek,” explains Lena. “It was Christopher’s idea. My guess is that Buck’s brain twisted that into him missing and triggered his panic response, sending him to the pier.”

Eddie stands and walks back out of the waiting room. He needs a few minutes to process. The idea that he’s missed so much, that he didn’t see the level that Buck was struggling at, it hurts. He needs to take a step away. Bobby walks out with him, but doesn’t say anything, clearly dealing with some of the same frustrations and feelings of helplessness. Bobby tends to be careful not to blur the lines too much, knowing that Buck looks to him like a father figure, but wanting to hold on to that captain status.

Everyone knows that only works when Buck is healthy. Bobby was just as much of a mess as Eddie the day Buck collapsed with his blood clot.

Eventually, a nurse lets them know that Buck is sleeping right now, that he’s out of the danger zone but will have to stay overnight for observation. With that reassurance, but no intention of leaving until he can see Buck for himself, Eddie follows Bobby back to the waiting room, in hopes of finding some answers.

* * *

“He always dives in first,” says Angie Ramirez, when Bobby asks if they can explain more and help them understand what they’ve missed with Buck over the last couple months. “The same way he did that day. Searching for someone else to save. But it’s like his mind twists more when he’s in the water. Even though he’s fully capable, he starts to struggle and he inhales too much water and he ends up drowning.”

Eddie doesn’t even know how to respond to that. The idea that Buck still feels like he has to go and save everyone else is overwhelming. He wants more, wants answers, but he can’t figure out how to ask.

Bobby seems to know what he wants though, and he asks for the team. “Why hasn’t anyone tried to stop him before he gets in the water?”

“We tried several times,” explains Billy. “But we all have families and lives, so we can’t all be out there at once. That’s why we all rotate shifts. Some of our family members do too, those that can at least, so there’s always someone watching for him. But it’s like hitting the water settles one part of the trauma, only to activate another. We tried everything to stop him before he dives in, but he fights against all of us.”

Lena steps in. “The last time they tried to stop Buck from diving off the pier, he ended up dislocating the shoulder of Mrs Ramirez’s husband.” She looks tired, exhausted even. “So they just watch and call us as soon as they see Buck. And we come save him. Over and over again.”

“How often does this happen?” asks Bobby. 

“I mean, you have that video,” adds Eddie. “You said it helps Buck, but to get to that point, to realize exactly what helps the most…” his voice fades as he registers just how many times Buck has to have found himself back out at the source of his nightmares.

“At least once a week,” confirms Angie. “Sometimes twice.”

“We figured out he’s the worst when you all are on shift,” says Lena. “Captain Cooper did some research and was able to create a pattern of sorts. Or at least an ability to more accurately predict. Eddie’s days off never see Buck out on the pier.”

“He stays with us on those days,” says Eddie softly. “Christopher was asking for him a lot, At first I just kept calling Buck and then he mentioned once that he could just sleep on the couch, that it’d probably be easier and better for Chris. So he’s with us on those nights.” How could he not have realized that Buck needed to be there just as bad as Christopher needed Buck? It wasn’t exactly normal to stay over like that and be okay with sleeping on a couch so often. But Eddie’d just accepted it, because it meant Christopher was okay. And honestly, it meant Buck was okay too, both of Eddie’s boys where he could see them. 

“Why didn’t anyone tell us?” he asks, trying not to sound overly accusatory. These people have given up months of their lives to save the second most important in his, but how could they have kept it a secret.

“We thought you knew,” answers Lena. “At least, we figured you knew how bad the insomnia and nightmares were, because he wasn’t here when you were around, so we thought you knew that he needed to be nearby.” She sighs heavily. “The drowning part you couldn’t fix. Your station is too far out to be able to get here fast enough. And since we thought you were in the loop on the rest, it didn’t seem helpful to make you worry more when you couldn’t do anything.”

Eddie still can’t say that he likes it, but he gets it. Especially since that sense of wanting to protect Buck isn’t exactly an exclusive feeling. 

“What do we do now?” he asks.

“Be there for him,” says Lena.

“Support him, keep looking out for him,” says Bobby.

“Bullshit,” says Billy and Angie at the same time. They both laugh at the same time and Billy motions for Angie to continue.

“He needs to see a therapist. He needs to talk to someone, someone professional, that can help get him through all of this.” She wrings her hands in frustration and her husband Jay puts a calming arm around her shoulders. “Look, maybe one of us should have pushed the therapy thing sooner. Clearly, we all trusted Buck to be talking to someone about all that he was dealing with and instead he took this all on himself. But now that we all know, it’s clear that no one piece or person is enough to help him through this. So get him help,” she admonishes again.

Eddie will. He won’t rest from here on out until Buck is back at peace, or at least on his way there. 

A nurse pokes her head into the waiting room. “Mr. Buckley is awake if you’d like to see him. Just a few visitors at a time, please. We don’t want to overwhelm him.”

* * *

It’s late by the time everyone’s had a chance to visit with Buck and by the end of it, Eddie’s kind of herding people out the door. Buck looks overwhelmed, though endlessly grateful, and he’s too much of a generous spirit to tell anyone that he’s too tired to keep talking.

Eddie takes as long as he possibly can to gather up his jacket and wallet and put away the trash from his dinner. He hesitates, hand on the door, looks back at Buck.

“Stay?” requests Buck, his voice small and fearful.

Eddie exhales a breath he didn’t realize he’d been holding for so long. “Thank god,” he whispers and uses every last bit of self-control he has not to fling himself at Buck. 

At least now they have a path forward. Buck agreed to therapy pretty easily, and Bobby had expanded his mandate on that to include all of them. Suggested it might do everyone some good after all they’ve dealt with in the last couple years. Eddie wasn’t about to disagree. Bobby had also talked with the fire chief and worked out an option for Buck to come back to the station. He’d still be on his disability leave pay scale and he wasn’t allowed out on calls, but he’d work the shifts with them and be off when Eddie was. 

Buck had asked what he’d do through the day if not out with the team, had made a face at the idea of days filled with cleaning. Bobby informed him that the amount of paperwork that went into running a firehouse was no small matter and it’d be good for Buck to learn that side. “The more experience you have, the easier the transition will be,” Bobby had told him.

“To going back to work as a firefighter?” Buck had asked.

“For the day you take a Captain’s role,” answered Bobby.

The look on Buck’s face, the idea that Bobby believed in him enough to think he could get there someday...fuck but that look could make the sun shine through a hurricane.

When Bobby left, Buck had seemed to breathe easier, like he could see the light at the end of this miserable tunnel he’d been stuck in. 

Now, Eddie just reaches for Buck’s hand and holds on tight. “Please don’t scare me like that again, Buck. I can’t stand the idea of losing you.”

“Believe me,” whispers Buck, his voice still hoarse, “I don’t want to leave.” He shudders like he’s cold but when Eddie pulls the blanket up, Buck’s body still shakes. 

Eddie hesitates only for a second, then he gently pushes at Buck. “Scoot over,” he says and climbs onto the bed. It’s not a great fit, obviously. Hospital beds weren’t made for two grown men. But there’s no broken bones or major injuries to be careful of. So Eddie maneuvers them a bit until neither are pushing up against bars or beams. He wraps one arm around Buck and pulls him tight against him, making sure Buck knows he’s okay. He says as much too. “It’s okay, Buck. You’re safe now. Everything’s going to be okay.”

“Eddie?” asks Buck quietly.

“Yeah, Buck?”

“What now?”

“Now you get some sleep. Tomorrow you’re coming home and staying there.” He means home as in his house, with him and Christopher, because at this point Buck’s halfway moved in anyway. Eddie wonders if Buck had noticed that already, or if they’d both been so caught up in the rest of life, that they missed the moment their lives fused together so inextricably.

Buck snuggles against him and breathes steadier. “Okay. I like your house better anyway. It’s happier.”

“Only happier because you’re there,” says Eddie, pressing a gentle kiss against the back of Buck’s neck.

“We kinda did this backwards, didn’t we?” asks Buck, his voice foggy as he starts to fall asleep, the exhaustion of the day catching up again. “Kind of took a weird road to get here.”

And yeah, they did. Or maybe they didn’t. Maybe when something’s right, when something is one of those once in a lifetime loves, it’s not about doing things the right or expected way. Maybe the right way is the one that let them fall in sync with each other, so naturally they didn’t even notice it was strange.

Eddie wishes their realizations hadn’t come at the expense of Buck’s health and the risk of his life, but now that he knows Buck will be okay...he’s glad for anything that brings them together.

“As long as every road leads me back to you, I don’t really care which direction we go,” answers Eddie.

**Author's Note:**

> I have some delightfully angsty stuff in the works, but I'm also feeling an AU. What are thoughts on a high school au? Yay? Nay?


End file.
